Wairarapa player-coach Katherine Reisima is thrilled to come home with a bronze medal after a tough start to the National Women’s Hockey Tier Two Championship.
Wairarapa finished the week-long tournament in third place after beating Tasman 2–1 in the third-fourth playoff on Saturday, with both goals coming in the first quarter to captain Reese Robertson and Pippa Raleigh.
The victory was sweet revenge for Wairarapa, who went down 3–2 to Tasman in the first round. A 4–0 loss to Southland followed, leaving them on the brink of missing the semifinals, but a 3–2 win over Taranaki after trailing 2–0 and a 2–0 win over Waikato Wildcats set up a semifinal against North Harbour.
A goal in each of the first two quarters was enough for North Harbour, and although Wairarapa dominated the second half, they were unable to break the defence.
Reisima said finishing third was particularly satisfying after the bumpy start.
“We decided we were going to go out hard early and just press them hard, and it paid off; we got two goals in the first quarter, and that essentially set us up,” she said
“Lots of teams, after losing the first two games, would put their heads down, and there’s none of that, and that’s testament to the players to trust us, and we changed a couple of tactics and ended up with a bronze medal.
“We deserved it; our goalie [loan player Holly Landon] played well and made some phenomenal saves, and we held the ball well and played together as a team and defended well and put in the hard yards.”
